GAME 53 DIRKIE: Luka seals it! (94%)

[omahen]

Poli (I think that's a company from Spain)

Poli is the brand of ground meat (chicken baloney sausages) produced by Slovenian company - they also entered US market. Luka is their face in the commercials. Part of Luka helping local economy, I guess. Never saw news that it is actually his favorite food. 

On a personal note: it might not be the healthiest thing, but it is very good


STA: Perutnina Ptuj launches production in US

Mad About POLI - #madaboutpoli Poli is the best chicken... | Facebook

[burekemde]

And this is the point that some were trying to make. This is just not something that can often be said about guys like Lebron, Chris Paul, Kawhi Leonard, KD, Paul George, etc. 

Was it overblown by some? Absolutely, imo, but it's not nothing, or even minor, really. Luka does need to learn to be better about this in order to take his spot among the all time greats. I think he will. By the time he's 28, I doubt we'll even remember this argument.

Agree. Absolutely overblown by many. This is what I try to highlight. Luka says that it was very little weight, and agrees to this. Thus, not a lot weight. He looks visibly identical to before to me, which confirms to me his statement. And most of this IMO is due not having an offseason. By far major issue was thus the injury. It might be the injury was connected to this little extra weight as you write, we don't know, it can't be excluded or confirmed, it's a valid theory. It could all be indeed connected - no offseason to reallty rest - little more weight -more stress on ankle. It could also just be an injury to ankle that would have happened anyway, he has had those before even when in top form on the court. It was just clear that he limped due to injury to ankle and that stopped when the injury was gone, and his play rose to elite levels (by Lukas standards).

It is completely normal that later in career players are better prepared early in seasons. When you are 22, you don't have that experience. Agree, nothing suggests to me, that Luka will not do that later as well. Especially when he has an offseason to take a rest and doesnt need to play with the national team. No wonders his ankle had issues with no rest in the summer. It would have been tough for Lebron as well.

Whatever it was, it was a minor thing, and not a big thing as it was made out to be. This is the best Luka has played ever IMO. He needs to save the best for playoffs.

[Fuerza1]

Bullock scored 11 of his 20 points on Seth last night; Mavs were targeting Seth down the stretch too. This bully ball finish on Seth, just beautiful! https://go.nba.com/wxa94

A lot of love for Luka taking Thybulle to school last night, deservedly so because he dropped 12 of his points on him.

Brunson dropped 12 of his 19 on Maxey, a talented defender with a 6'6 wingspan to boot. I think this narrative of him struggling against "length" needs to die.

[dirkfansince1998]

So Luka admits it himself and we are still finding ways to ignore it or act like it wasn´t real. Going by the quote he had to lose weight but losing it quickly wasn´t an option because it would have impacted his performance even more. Makes sense. A bigger caloric deficit would make it even harder to play at a good level.
It took more time and no one is denying that other things like injuries or health and safety protocols played a role as well.
We can argue about his offseason. The olympics. Lack of time to recover. Whatever.

Bottom line: If he wants to compete with the best this sport has/had to offer he needs to take care of his body. If he wants to be the very best it is not just about not getting out of shape in the offseason. It is about getting better. Doing the little things. Going the extra mile. Like Dirk. Like Kobe. Or last years MVP Jokic.
He is still young and maybe it will take a few more years but I am positive that he will make the necessary adjustments.

[aguiar95]

A lot of love for Luka taking Thybulle to school last night, deservedly so because he dropped 12 of his points on him.

Brunson dropped 12 of his 19 on Maxey, a talented defender with a 6'6 wingspan to boot. I think this narrative of him struggling against "length" needs to die.

I think we disagree on the Thybulle point. Doc absolutely screwed PHI when he kept Danny Green (retired basketball player) on Luka (fullcourt on some possesions SMH). We feasted on that time period and got back on the game, but Thybulle was absolutely bothering Doncic the whole 1st half and did a pretty good job when he was putting pressure on him. Another Doc blunder was not having Maxey on when we used the zone defense. He was their only PG available and the only that could penetrate/kick.

Curry is the same old liability on D as ever, Maxey was pretty bad yesterday, giving and-ones here and there. Harris was an abomination on both ends. Guy just really doesn't fit there on both ends.

We mostly did a good job on double/triple teaming Joel after the 1st quarter (rotations were not on point to start). Same way we did with Jokic (Embiid with just 17FGA is a win).

[Kammrath]

So Luka admits it himself and we are still finding ways to ignore it or act like it wasn´t real. Going by the quote he had to lose weight but losing it quickly wasn´t an option because it would have impacted his performance even more. Makes sense. A bigger caloric deficit would make it even harder to play at a good level.
It took more time and no one is denying that other things like injuries or health and safety protocols played a role as well.
We can argue about his offseason. The olympics. Lack of time to recover. Whatever.

Bottom line: If he want to compete with the best this sport has/had to offer he needs to take care of his body. If he wants to be the very best it is not just about not getting out of shape in the offseason. It is about getting better. Doing the little things. Going the extra mile. Like Dirk. Like Kobe. Or last years MVP Jokic.
He is still young and maybe it will take a few more years but I am positive that he will make the necessary adjustments.

[burekemde]

So Luka admits it himself and we are still finding ways to ignore it or act like it wasn´t real. Going by the quote he had to lose weight but losing it quickly wasn´t an option because it would have impacted his performance even more. Makes sense. A bigger caloric deficit would make it even harder to play at a good level.
It took more time and no one is denying that other things like injuries or health and safety protocols played a role as well.
We can argue about his offseason. The olympics. Lack of time to recover. Whatever.

Bottom line: If he want to compete with the best this sport has/had to offer he needs to take care of his body. If he wants to be the very best it is not just about not getting out of shape in the offseason. It is about getting better. Doing the little things. Going the extra mile. Like Dirk. Like Kobe. Or last years MVP Jokic.
He is still young and maybe it will take a few more years but I am positive that he will make the necessary adjustments.

There are two completely separate things.

Nobody ignores the two pounds he mentions that made him run a few more minutes lately. Luka states this himself.  Its added after the offseason of no break and during the season this gets lost these two pounds and players get in better shape. In fact Luka gets this most offseason and plays himself from good into great shape.

What is discussed is a separate thing - at the time of his ankle injury he started limping and his level of play diminished. So many people interpreted this limping as due to he is fat and  due to being overweight and that he was visibly fat. He was terrible defender etc. This is what was completely overblown and wrong. Obviously the difference of the two pounds cant be seen and he looks the same now as earlier this season. The limping was exclusively due to his injury. If this was due to being fat no way he would play like he does now. I think thats overwhelming evidence it was injury related.

This is the best Luka ever, and that's a really bad news for the Luka haters.

[dirkfansince1998]

There are two completely separate things.

Nobody ignores the two pounds he mentions that made him run a few more minutes lately. Luka states this himself.  Its added after the offseason of no break and during the season this gets lost these two pounds and players get in better shape. In fact Luka gets this most offseason and plays himself from good into great shape.

What is discussed is a separate thing - at the time of his ankle injury he started limping and his level of play diminished. So many people interpreted this limping as due to he is fat and  due to being overweight and that he was visibly fat. He was terrible defender etc. This is what was completely overblown and wrong. Obviously the difference of the two pounds cant be seen and he looks the same now as earlier this season. The limping was exclusively due to his injury. If this was due to being fat no way he would play like he does now. I think thats overwhelming evidence it was injury related.

This is the best Luka ever, and that's a really bad news for the Luka haters.

If you are searching for Luka haters you are probably on the wrong board. But just like any other player he isn´t beyond criticism. If it makes you happy I can start every single post with a "Luka is far from the biggest problem and without a doubt this team best player" intro.
We already talked about Luka´s shape prior to his injury and I am tired of this straw man. Where are the two pounds coming from? I cannot find them in any report or interview. Last thing that was mentioned was him losing 15 pounds since the start of the season (according to McMahon). Being back in the 240 range.

[burekemde]

If you are searching for Luka haters you are probably on the wrong board. But just like any other player he isn´t beyond criticism. If it makes you happy I can start every single post with a "Luka is far from the biggest problem and without a doubt this team best player" intro.
We already talked about Luka´s shape prior to his injury and I am tired of this straw man. Where are the two pounds coming from? I cannot find them in any report or interview. Last thing that was mentioned was him losing 15 pounds since the start of the season (according to McMahon). Being back in the 240 range.

Whatever it was, it was obviously a very small issue and nothing serious as it was made out to be, that Luka dealt with ease and fixed in no time - way before playoffs. So whoever made a big mess and news about it on this forum and in the media that Luka was fat, it looks like completely overblown. We can look at it from this direction as well.

It's great to see that Luka plays excellent defense, he has been misinterpreted wrongly there as well. He is in top shape and performs some of his best games in career after his ankle injury was over. Im really excited for this years playoffs. Im excited by the fit between Luka and Brunson. It is not coincidental also that Brunson is lifting Lukas game and the other way around and the team is winning.

[SleepingHero]

https://twitter.com/calliecaplan/status/...4696059904

Maybe Luka had a plan pointing out the bent rim.

[SleepingHero]

Poli is the brand of ground meat (chicken baloney sausages) produced by Slovenian company - they also entered US market. Luka is their face in the commercials. Part of Luka helping local economy, I guess. Never saw news that it is actually his favorite food. 

On a personal note: it might not be the healthiest thing, but it is very good

Thanks for the clarification. I also want to ask since we're sort of on the same topic, is ćevapčići as good as it looks? Had a Serbian colleague once who would always tell me about it.

[omahen]

Thanks for the clarification. I also want to ask since we're sort of on the same topic, is ćevapčići as good as it looks? Had a Serbian colleague once who would always tell me about it.

Cevapcici is basically same thing as the meat in the hamburger, only coming in a bit different shape. So if you like burgers, you would probably like cevapcici   Taste basically depends on which kind of meat you use. Usually its a mixture of different kinds of meat (pork, beef or even lamb), I prefer 100 % beef.